Popcorn is mass-produced for sale at movies and other events in commercial popcorn poppers which include an enclosed, transparent cabinet containing a tiltable kettle suspended above a catch area or platform. The kettle is heated and uncooked popcorn kernels are placed therein to be cooked and popped. Once the kernels are popped, the kettle is manually tilted and the popcorn spills onto the platform to be scooped up, packaged and sold to customers.
Conventionally, commercial popcorn poppers have been manually operated and have required an operator's constant attention for cooking the kernels and subsequently dumping the popped popcorn. For example, an operator would load the kettle with popping oil and unpopped corn kernels and then listen and watch for the unpopped corn to pop. When the operator decided, somewhat arbitrarily, that the corn was sufficiently popped, they would then dump the kettle and spill the popcorn onto the serving platform. Additional oil and corn would then be added for the next batch. While such conventional popcorn poppers are generally effective in mass-producing popcorn; the constant attention they require prevents the operator from other important tasks, such as selling the popcorn and other concession products, taking money and generally servicing customers.
As may be appreciated, the multiple duties entrusted concessionaire operators are not conducive to having them constantly monitor a popcorn popper. If attention is diverted for an extended length of time, the popcorn is susceptible to being burned or overcooked. In addition to the waste of burned popcorn, the aroma of the burned popcorn is not attractive to customers and may actually discourage purchases. Furthermore, if the operator inadvertently dumps the burned corn onto the platform, it will contaminate the usable popcorn which has already been produced and may render the entire batch inedible and thus unusable. Still further, the results and mess from burned popcorn is not easy to clean. The kettle is hot and must be allowed to cool before the burned popcorn is removed and the kettle placed back in service.
Additionally, the arbitrary nature of the dumping process with conventional poppers makes them subject to messes associated with premature dumping. For example, if the operator mistakenly believes that the corn has been completely popped and the oil used when indeed uncooked corn and oil remains in the kettle, tilting the kettle will spill oil onto the serving platform and possibly onto the counter. Such spills ruin and waste popcorn and create a mess which must be cleaned, adding to the already numerous tasks of a concessionaire.
Still further, too much oil may be added for a particular cooking cycle, and even if the cooking cycle is completed, excess oil might be left, again resulting in a mess upon dumping of the batch. For example, one operator may load the uncooked corn and oil for a batch, and another operator may subsequently and inadvertently load more oil, believing it had not been added. The excess oil does not burn off or cook and remains in the kettle. Not only is a mess created upon dumping, but the excess oil may also foul the batch of popcorn.
Another drawback of conventional popcorn poppers is the inherent delays which will occur between cooked batches of popcorn. When the popcorn has been cooked and dumped, the operator may begin serving it to customers without replenishing the supply of corn and oil and starting the next batch. Therefore, the next batch of popcorn will not be produced until the operator consciously sets aside time from his other activities to do so. Such delays interrupt production rates and introduce inefficiencies into the operation which reduce popcorn sales.
It is also desirable to pop popcorn consistently so that it produces consistent taste from batch to batch. The vagaries of prior systems leave much to chance in this regard so that batches of corn are undercooked, burned or the like and at the least are inconsistent in taste.
Still another drawback to conventional popping mechanisms is that they sometimes provide inconsistent or improper heating of the popcorn so that proper expansion of the kernels upon popping is not achieved. Particularly, when the heat is too high, the steam from the kernel is prematurely forced out and the popped kernel is small. If the temperature is too low, the kernels do not experience proper hull expansion and brittleness at popping and the popped kernels are small. As may be appreciated, small popcorn kernels reduce the yield of popped popcorn per unit of uncooked kernels, thus reducing the efficiently of the popping apparatus and raising the cost of the operation.
As a result, it is one objective of the present invention to provide improved apparatus and/or methods to pop popcorn continuously in consecutive batches with minimal attention by an operator.
It is another objective to ensure that the popcorn is consistently and properly cooked in each batch.
It is a further objective of the present invention to reduce the burning of popcorn sometimes associated with conventional machines and operator inattention.
It is also an objective of the invention to always provide the proper amount of cooking oil and thus reduce the messes associated with such burned popcorn or spilled, uncooked oil and thereby allow an operator to focus upon customers and popcorn sales.
It is a still further objective of the invention to reduce the delays between fresh batches of popcorn attributable to lack of attention by the operator.
It is a still further objective of the invention to increase the production rate of consecutive batches of fresh popcorn to thereby increase the sales from and the profitability of a commercial popcorn popper.
Still further, it is an objective to provide the proper and consistent temperature to the kernels as they cook to ensure proper popping conditions and to maximize the popcorn yield per unit of kernels.